Dreamweaver or FrontPage?

Bought DW a couple of weeks ago. Still have to figure out how to use it. My current site is fully built in html and also full of flaws.
Is there anybody around who could recommend a DW-tutorial?

 

You would be better served to learn html+css. Dreamweaver puts out crap for code in wysiwyg mode. Its viewer has only passing resemblance to real world browsers.

It is a decent editor packaged with some interesting site management tools and a second rate cms/templating method. A good text editor, Firefox for testing and the usual suspects for file handling, plus a cms, all available free, will do a better job.

That said, it's better than FrontPage, which is a PoS. If you just must learn DW , Google -- Dreamweaver tutorials is your friend.

cheers,

gary

ps. Why wasn't a third choice offered, "Neither, not in a million years"?

 

Dreamweaver without a thought... itz the best software around and the best part is tht one gets to use the whole workin area with lots of designing options as well.
yes it might be hard to get your hand workin on it for the first time but when u get used to it - theres no lokin back!!

 

Frontpage has terrible problems with hyperlink conversions in Firefox (Underlines the hyperlink even though it is not in IE). I have been using Frontpage for about 7 months and hope to switch to Dreamweaver because it is far superior.

I would suggest Dreamweaver before Frontpage anyday.

 

Have you ever used Dreamweaver?

 

Yes, I tried the 30 Day free trial and loved it. I just don't have the money to purchase the full version yet.

 

Well, I do agree that DW8 is a great program. There are ways to do all the same things in FrontPage but there are some advantages to DW, I think - I'm still discovering some of them as I go along.

I guess part of my point is that there's no subsitute to knowing HTML and being able to wade into code view yourself.

 

i am using DW 3

does it matter a lot that i should use the latest DW version ?

Please advice

 

Depends entirely on what you want, your personal preferences, and your bank balance.

If you're happy with version 3 and it does what you want it to do, carry on. Personally, I never upgrade until I see a reason to - which means the new version can help me do something I couldn't do with the old version, or it can help me do the same things faster and more easily.

 

Dreamweaver is quite nice, but I agree you should have some html knowledge to go along with it. I find I use the code window as much as the design window.

I really like the new tabs in Dreamweaver 8. I can work on multiple pages, and have the css file in another tab and instantly see the updates to all pages without having to move all the windows around. Saves a lot of time.

 

I agree that learning something about HTML & CSS makes it easier to develop web pages, but I also say that DW makes it a lot easier to implement that knowledge. I disagree that a text editor can do a better job. The DW code window IS a text editor. You can type HTML into it like any editor. Plus it has built-in shortcuts and assistants that you can use or ignore as you please. The only reason I'd use separate editor, viewer, file handler, and cms is if I didn't know how to use DW (or FP etc.). I highly recommend spending the time to learn it; the only remaining factor is the price.
I used to use an older version of DW and it did take it upon itself to insert line breaks where it thought they should be, and I used to delete them in the code window. Now I use version 7 (2004) and it no longer does that. It only puts in what I tell it to. Very clean code. As far as "only passing resemblance to real world browsers," I don't see why you'd say that. Were you using a really old version? In both versions I've used, the previews are exactly what IE displays - isn't IE a "real world" browser?

By the way, version 7 also has the tabs for working with multiple files. I learned a lot about CSS by tweaking a CSS file and watching the results in the HTML file. Nice.

 

I prefer Dreamweaver. IMO front page is best for basic html edting and Dreamweaver for programming/coding and complicated page editing.

 

It is an expensive text editor that can do nothing a good (free) text editor can't do. I'll put Emacs up against anything DW can do and then some.

So it's finally a decent text editor.

Unfortunately, IE is all too real world. The problem is that if you code against a non-compliant, bug-ridden PoS like IE, you will produce non-compliant bug-ridden markup and css. If you want to produce compliant, cross UA (notice I didn't say browser—there are other web-cognizant User-Agents, too) code, you must use a modern standards compliant browser as your test bed. Right now, Firefox is best of breed. IE is possibly worst.

But, you say, all my visitors use IE. Maybe that's because your site looks bad when rendered as coded. Of course, IE7, while it won't add much in the way of css support, it will fix a number of bugs, and those fixes will break pages that are dependent on those bugs to look right.

Most of my work comes from design houses that use the latest DW and need me to fix their pages that are breaking in modern browsers. I suspect that IE7 will bring me more than I can handle.

Again, nothing more than any good editor should give you. I understand that you may have married yourself to DW, but it is no more than an adequate text editor with add-on tools that are freely available, anyway.

cheers,

gary

 

I looked over frontpage a few years back and I still have flash backs to this day. Dreamweave is what you make of it. I have used if sience day one and i'm lost without it. I don't the WYSIWYG much outside of tracking where a snip of code is. The live data for php is cool ect... and the new ver is so-so... but in anycase run away from forntpage... put your learning curve into DW..

Dreamwever hands down

 

I only uses frontpage and VIm editor(on linux) to build site. And ya, FP do put lot's of unnecessary code but than after building site, you can remove it.

 

OMG no code bloating with Front Page are you having a laugh?

I have looked at the web site in you sig and looking at the coding I am not supprised you say this.

You do know about CSS dont you?

 

People still consider using FrontPage? I guess the shiny CD entices a few. Go DW.

 

No. Want to show me some with a version dated 2002 or later?

Depends on which site you're looking at but the main one wasn't built in FrontPage.

Yes. You do know about different versions of software, don't you? Have you ever used ANY version of FrontPage? Or is this just a rehash of something you once read in a newsgroup or forum that you thought made you an instant expert?

 

Is that true?

I have 2002 loaded and I tried it today just because of your claims. Well, it was a friggin MESS!

 

I used 2003 for a year before switching to DW and it is also horribly messy with un-necessary code.